Retire Fannie and Freddie

4:59 PM,
Apr. 14, 2014

Written by

USA TODAY

Since the financial crisis of 2008, nearly all institutions that got federal bailout money have paid it back. Taxpayers even turned a profit.

No repayment has been more of a shocker than the Lazarus-like rebound of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When the housing bubble burst, they were in such desperate shape the government essentially nationalized them, putting them into conservatorship and pumping $187 billion into them.

The fact that the companies have repaid that sum is prompting calls for the government to get out of the way. ...